Article by Erin Weeks on OCTOBER 19, 2023. Published on postandcourier.com.
Grammy-nominated musician and creator of Playbook, Sammy Miller
Students at Ridge Spring-Monetta Middle/High School are now implementing Playbook, an online music education program created by Grammy-nominated musician Sammy Miller.
The Playbook program approaches music education as if it were like learning a new language, using a team of Grammy-nominated and Juilliard-trained mentors to guide students into becoming lifelong music makers.
Miller is from Los Angeles, and is the drummer in his jazz band, Sammy Miller and the Congregation. His first connection with Aiken came when he got to experience Joye in Aiken while he was studying at Juilliard.
“I just loved everything that was going on. I thought it was just so impactful,” said Miller.
The Playbook creator believes that those who know how to speak through music are often better communicators, friends and citizens. “The joy that music has sparked for me, I want to pass that on to people after me, to give them the tools to express themselves,” he said.
Miller recently wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times about the need to reconstruct music education. “We need to start by rethinking how we teach music from the ground up, both at home and in the classroom,” Miller wrote in the article. “Too often kids associate music in school with a difficult undertaking they can’t hope to master, which leads them to give up. Music does not have to be, and in fact, shouldn’t be, about the pursuit of perfection.”
According to Miller, many first-time music learners give up shortly after picking up their instruments. Last year, Ridge Spring-Monetta Middle School had 89 band students, compared to 29 band students in its high school. Dr. Kim Fontanez, fine arts coordinator for the Aiken public schools, said that one of the main goals in using Playbook is to keep students in band after middle school.
“As the students transitioned from middle school band to high school band, the workload became more challenging as the students had to balance sports and marching band,” she said. “We’re hoping that the platform will retain the middle school students as they enter high school.”
Ridge Spring-Monetta Band Director Jeff Clamp talked about his enthusiasm to use Playbook and the benefit he thinks it will have at a school like his, where many grade levels are enmeshed. “I’m looking forward to really getting into it,” he said. “It looks like it can be really helpful, especially in an environment like ours where students are at so many different levels.”